Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching yesterday advanced to the final of the women’s doubles at the Hobart International in Australia, while top seed Ben Shelton was knocked out of the Auckland Classic in New Zealand by unseeded Taro Daniel.
Second seeds Chan and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico defeated Japanese third seeds Makoto Ninomiya and Eri Hozumi 6-4, 6-3.
Chan and Olmos converted five of 12 break points and saved four of seven to advance to today’s final against Chinese duo Guo Hanyu and Jiang Xinyu, who ousted fourth seeds Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine 7-5, 6-3.
Photo: screen grab from Chan Hao-ching’s Instagram account
In the singles, top seed Elise Mertens of Belgium defeated Daria Saville of Australia 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to set up a final against second seed Emma Navarro of the US, who defeated Yuan Yue of China 6-4, 6-3.
In Auckland, world No. 16 Shelton had looked unstoppable as all but one other seeded player was eliminated after the quarter-finals, but he was ousted 7-5, 7-6 (11/9) by Daniel, who reached his second career final six years after the first.
The last remaining seed lost in yesterday’s second semi-final when sixth seed Arthur Fils of France was beaten 6-2, 7-5 by Chilean qualifier Alejandro Tabilo.
Tabilo defied his ranking of No. 84 to battle his way through two qualifying rounds and three main-draw matches to also reach his second career final. He was due to play Britian’s Cameron Norrie in the quarter-finals, but went straight to the semis when Norrie withdrew with an injury.
Daniel also played well above his ranking of No. 74 to beat Shelton in straight sets.
“It’s always difficult to play against Ben because he doesn’t give you too much rhythm and the ball’s really alive,” Daniel said. “It’s really about who can put on a little bit more pressure and that tiebreaker was such a dogfight.”
Daniel had been in two minds about playing in Auckland this year after losing in qualifying last year to the world’s 470th-ranked player.
“My relationship with this place is super interesting,” he said. “I was trying to avoid coming here and now I’m having one of my best weeks ever. Funny how things work out when you give it another chance.”
Tabilo swept through his first set against Fils with two service breaks. He then came from 5-2 down in the second set to level at 5-5 and to serve for the match at 6-5.
The final game lasted 17 minutes and Fils saved three match points before Tabilo finally broke through.
“It’s been almost two years since I was able to get to a final and I also came from the qualies then,” Tabilo said. “I’ve seen Arthur play a lot on tour. He’s very intense, big hitter, so I knew I had to come out swinging, be very intense and make him play every ball.
In Australia, third seed Sebastian Korda was dismantled 6-2, 6-1 as Jiri Lehecka reached the Adelaide International final, while Jelena Ostapenko battled into the women’s decider.
Lehecka completely dominated proceedings against the American at Memorial Drive, racing through the match in just 73 minutes as he builds toward the Australian Open.
The Czech seventh seed is to face Briton Jack Draper, who defeated Russian eighth seed Alexander Bublik 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.
Lehecka telegraphed his intentions from the start with a serve to love then broke in the second game.
Korda, son of 1998 Australian Open champion Petr Korda, was unable to mount any real resistance as the 22-year-old surged into only his second career final.
“I’m a bit surprised that it went this well, but I did all I could to make it happen,” Lehecka said. “I’m happy to be looking at a place in the final. I did good work in the off-season and it’s working well, but there is one more step so we will see tomorrow.”
In the semi-finals of the women’s singles, Latvian sixth seed Ostapenko defeated Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 7-6 (7/3), a victory that propels her back into the top 10 for the first time in six years when the new rankings are released on Monday.
Currently ranked No. 12, the former French Open champion is to vie for the title against another Russian in Daria Kasatkina, who earned a walkover win when American second seed Jessica Pegula withdrew with illness.
“She can serve big and was hitting great, but I was just trying to play my game,” Ostapenko said of Alexandrova. “I’m glad I won in two sets. I’ve been trying to play more aggressive, it’s something we’ve been working on. I’m feeling good and looking forward to the final.”
Ostapenko is bidding for a seventh career trophy.
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